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Perform or step down, AIADMK tells government

— Photo: T. Singaravelou

FOR A CAUSE: AIADMK organising secretary P.H.Pandian (second from left), addressing a protest rally in support of AFT Mill workers in Puducherry on Monday.

PUDUCHERRY: The Congress government in the Union Territory should step down if it is not prepared to take steps to protect the interests of the working class, maintain law and order and improve the welfare of the people, organising secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) P. H. Pandian said here on Monday.

Speaking at a protest rally held by the Puducherry unit of the AIADMK in support of the workers belonging to the Anglo-French Textile Mill, Bharathi Mill and Swadeshi Cotton Mill, he said the Congress government and the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government had failed to safeguard the rights and welfare of the workers.

Mr.Pandian flayed the UT government for not adopting the “equal-pay-for-equal-work” concept.

This was evident from the disparity in the dearness allowance fixed for the workers and the managerial staff of the AFT Mill, he said. He asked the UT government to remove the anomalies in the dearness allowance well ahead of the May Day. The Central government should also direct the Puducherry government to concede the demands of the mill workers, he said.

The MPs and MLAs should highlight the problems of the workers in the legislature, he said, recalling the demand advanced by the AIADMK founder M. G. Ramachandran that people should be given the right to recall the non-performing legislators.

If the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues could not discharge their duties, they should step down, Mr.Pandian said.

Secretary of the Puducherry unit of the AIADMK A.Anbalagan dubbed the UT government as “anti-people and anti-working class.”

The workers of the AFT Mill had been agitating for the past 26 days to highlight their grievances. If the government failed to take early steps to concede the workers’ demands, the AIADMK would intensify the struggle as guided by the party general secretary Jayalalithaa, he said.

The AIADMK activists came in a procession from the old bus stand to take part in the rally near the Assembly complex.

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